Here are ten things you need to know today.
- Romney wins Puerto Rico primary in landslide: Mitt Romney easily won Sunday’s primary in Puerto Rico with over 80% of the vote. His decisive win means he’ll take all 20 of the territory’s delegates.
- Romney up by 15 in Illinois: A new survey from Public Policy Polling shows Mitt Romney up 15 points over Rick Santorum in Illinois just a day before the state’s primary. Romney takes 45% while Santorum gets 30%, Newt Gingrich takes 12% and Ron Paul 10%.
- Poll shows Lugar in trouble in Indiana primary: A new poll shows longtime Sen. Richard Lugar losing his lead in Indiana’s GOP primary to challenger State Treasurer Richard Mourdock. The poll, conducted by the Global Strategy Group, shows Lugar’s 12-point lead in October now down to 6 points, 45% to 39%. The poll was done for Democratic Senate Candidate Rep. Joe Donnelly (D-IN).
- DSCC has record fundraising month in February: The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee raised more than $5.31 million in February, more than it has ever raised in the month in past cycles, the DSCC says. This brings their total fundraising for the cycle to $52.3 million with nearly $19 million on hand.
- Santorum camp blames statehood position for Puerto Rico loss: Though Rick Santorum is on track to win less than 10% of the vote in Sunday’s Puerto Rico primary, the campaign put out a statement Sunday blaming Santorum’s “locally unpopular but principled stance” that Puerto Rico make English its official language as a condition of statehood. When Santorum took this position in Puerto Rico last week, Romney staked out the opposite position.
- Santorum talks up rural-urban divide: Rick Santorum has been trying to motivate rural, conservative voters by depicting them as at odds with liberal, urban voters in areas that tend to go for Mitt Romney. “And he’s winning the areas the Democrats win, and I win the areas the Republicans win,” Santorum said Friday, “It almost looks like a Republican versus a Democrat.”
- Ann Romney reaches out to women: On the trail Sunday, Ann Romney reached out to women voters, saying women are upset about the economy and that the campaign needs them. At the same campaign stop, Romney, who lags behind President Obama among women voters, described the challenges of mothers he has met during the campaign.
- Federal contractors donate to pro-Romney super PAC: The LA Times reports that a gray area in election law since Citizens United has opened the door to super PACs collecting money from government contractors. Pro-Mitt Romney super PAC Restore Our Future has taken $$890,000 from at least five contractors, though other super PACs still say they don’t accept such donations.
- Romney campaigns in Illinois, gives economic freedom speech: Mitt Romney will campaign in Illinois Monday, a day before the state’s March 20 primary. Among three campaign stops is a speech at the University of Chicago on “economic freedom,” according to his campaign.
- Santorum makes rounds on talk radio: Rick Santorum has three rallies in Illinois Monday. In addition to these campaign stops, Santorum is a doing a last-minute media blitz before the Illinois primary and will appear on six radio shows as well as MSNBC, Fox News, and CBS.
